Method and apparatus for distributing enforceable property rights

ABSTRACT

An enforceable property right and a system for controlling the manner of use of an item in accordance with usage rights. The enforceable property right includes an item ticket having a security mechanism incorporated therein and specifying an item for which the item ticket can be redeemed and a license associated with the item ticket. The license includes usage rights specifying a manner of use for redeeming the item ticket and a mechanism for unlocking said security mechanism.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 10/159,272filed on Jun. 3, 2002, now allowed, which claims benefit from U.S.provisional application Ser. Nos. 60/331,625 filed on Nov. 20, 2001,60/296,117, filed on Jun. 7, 2001, 60/296,118 filed on Jun. 7, 2001, and60/296,113 filed on Jun. 7, 2001, and which is a continuation-in-part ofapplication Ser. No. 10/046,695 filed on Jan. 17, 2002, which claimsbenefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/261,753 filed onJan. 17, 2001, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

One of the most important issues impeding the widespread distribution ofdigital works (i.e. documents or other content in forms readable bycomputers), via electronic means, and the Internet in particular, is thecurrent lack of ability to enforce the intellectual property rights ofcontent owners during the distribution and use of digital works. Effortsto resolve this problem have been termed “Intellectual Property RightsManagement” (“IPRM”), “Digital Property Rights Management” (“DPRM”),“Intellectual Property Management” (“IPM”), “Rights Management” (“RM”),and “Electronic Copyright Management” (“ECM”), collectively referred toas “Digital Rights Management (DRM)” herein. There are a number ofissues to be considered in effecting a DRM System. For example,authentication, authorization, accounting, payment and financialclearing, rights specification, rights verification, rights enforcement,and document protection issues should be addressed. U.S. Pat. Nos.5,530,235, 5,634,012, 5,715,403, 5,638,443, and 5,629,980 disclose DRMsystems addressing these issues.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,012, discloses a system for controllingthe distribution of digital documents. Each rendering device has arepository associated therewith. A predetermined set of usagetransaction steps define a protocol used by the repositories forenforcing usage rights associated with a document. Usage rights persistwith the document content. The usage rights can permit various mannersof use of the content such as, viewing only, use once, distribution, andthe like. Usage rights can be contingent on payment or satisfaction ofother conditions and the variables.

As noted above, it is known to control the use and distribution ofdigital content, i.e. documents or other information that can berendered by a computer or other device, using usage rights andconditions. This permits digital content to be distributed in a flexiblemanner while protecting the rights of the content owner and permittingthe content owner, and others adding value to transactions, to produce arevenue stream from the distribution. However, tangible items, such asgoods and services. Cannot be distributed in such a flexible manner.

It is known to utilize auctions, reverse auctions, aggregationmechanisms, and other distribution models to distribute goods andservices in a more flexible manner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,620discloses a system for matching a destination and unspecified-time withan airline flight to permit airlines to fill otherwise empty seats.However, the system disclosed in this patent merely matches a travelerwith an airline ticket and does not permit the flexible distribution ofvarious services and goods.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,308 discloses a system for encouraging buyers tosubmit Conditional Purchase Offers (CPOs) to a CPO management system fora desired product. The CPO management system processes each received CPOto determine whether one or more sellers are willing to accept a givenCPO. While this system can be applied to more diverse goods andservices, the system also is merely a mechanism for matching buyers tosellers.

Notwithstanding new business models and approaches, such as thosediscussed above, to selling various goods and services, the sale andexchange of goods and services still relies on legal theories andrelationships for enforcing behavior. For example, the parties to eachtransaction ultimately have to agree, either directly or indirectly, onthe parameters for delivering the goods and services, such as price,quantities, the item identity and the like. Accordingly, trade of goodsand services is restrained by legal and relationship issues.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the invention is an enforceable property right for usewithin a system for controlling the manner of use of an item inaccordance with usage rights. The property right comprises an itemticket specifying an item for which the item ticket can be redeemed, theticket having a security mechanism incorporated therein and a licenseassociated with the item ticket. The license includes usage rightsspecifying a manner of use for redeeming the item ticket and means forunlocking said security mechanism.

A second aspect of the invention is system for enforcing property rightsin items by controlling the use of the items in accordance with usagerights. The system comprises a license device operative to associate alicense with an item ticket specifying an item for which the item ticketcan be redeemed and having a security mechanism incorporated therein.The license includes usage rights specifying a manner of use forredeeming the item ticket and conditions for exercising the manner ofuse. A security component is operative to enforce the license and unlockthe security mechanism when the conditions are satisfied.

A third aspect of the invention is a method for enforcing a propertyright within a system for controlling the manner of use of an item inaccordance with usage rights. The method comprises parsing a licenseassociated with an item ticket specifying an item for which the itemticket can be redeemed and having a security mechanism incorporatedtherein. The license includes usage rights specifying a manner of usefor redeeming the item ticket and conditions for exercising the mannerof use. The method also comprises determining if the conditions aresatisfied and unlocking the security mechanism if the conditions aresatisfied.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention is described through a preferred embodiment, examples, andthe attached drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer architecture of the preferredembodiment of a distribution system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a rights label in accordance withthe preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a license in accordance with thepreferred embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a ticket in accordance with thepreferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A rights management system can be utilized to specify and enforceproperty rights to specific items, such as content, goods, services, orother items. Applicants have developed the concept of an “enforceableproperty right”, i.e., a right to use a specified item in accordancewith usage rights associated with the item. The phrase “usage rights' asused herein refers to a declarative specification of a manner of usethat is identifiable and enforceable through a software mechanism. FIG.1 illustrates system 10 that can be used in connection with thepreferred embodiment. System 10 includes a user activation module, inthe form of activation server 20, that issues public and private keypairs to users in a protected fashion, as is well known. During anactivation process, some information is exchanged between activationserver 20 and client environment 30, a computer or other deviceassociated with a user, for example, and client component 60 isdownloaded and installed in client environment 30. Client component 60preferably is tamper resistant and contains the set of public andprivate keys issued by activation server 20 as well as other componentssuch as any necessary engine for parsing or rendering item ticket 42.Item ticket 42 specifies a specific item as described below.

Rights label 40 is associated with item ticket 42 and specifies usagerights and possibly corresponding conditions that can be selected by anend-user. License Server 50 manages the encryption keys and issueslicenses 52 for exercise of a property right in the manner set forthbelow. Licenses 52 embody the actual granting of usage rights to an enduser based on usage rights selected from rights label 40. For example,rights label 40 may include usage rights for redeeming item ticket 42for an item upon payment of a fee of five dollars and redeeming ordistributing item ticket 42 upon payment of a fee of ten dollars. Clientcomponent 60 interprets and enforces the usage rights that have beenspecified in license 52.

FIG. 2 illustrates rights label 40 in accordance with the preferredembodiment. Rights label 40 includes plural rights offers 44. Eachrights offer 44 includes usage rights 44a, conditions 44b, and ticketspecification 44c. Ticket specification 44c can include any mechanismfor referencing, calling, locating, or otherwise specifying item ticket42 associated with rights offer 44.

FIG. 3 illustrates license 52 in accordance with the preferredembodiment. License 52 includes a unique license ID 52 a and grant 52 bincluding usage rights, a principal, conditions, state variables, and aticket specification designating an associated ticket 42. License 52also includes digital signature 52 c including any cryptographic keys orthe like for unlocking item ticket 42.

Usage rights, specify manners of use. For example, a manner of use caninclude the ability to use an item in a specified way for a specifiedperiod of time, to buy the item for a specified period of time, or thelike. Usage rights can also be bundled. Further, usage rights canspecify transfer rights, such as distribution rights and can permitgranting of usage rights to others or the derivation of usage rights.Such usage rights are referred to as “meta-rights”. Meta-rights are therights that one has to manipulate, modify, and/or derive other usagerights. Meta-rights can be thought of as usage rights to usage rights.Meta-rights can include rights to offer, grant, obtain, transfer,delegate, track, surrender, exchange, and revoke usage rights to/fromothers. Meta-rights can include the rights to modify any of theconditions associated with other rights. For example, a meta-right maybe the right to extend or reduce the scope of a particular right. Ameta-right may also be the right to extend or reduce the validationperiod of a right.

Often, conditions must be satisfied in order to exercise the manner ofuse in a specified usage right. For, example a condition may be thepayment of a fee, submission of personal data, or any other requirementdesired before permitting exercise of a manner of use. Conditions canalso be “access conditions” for example, access conditions can apply toa particular group of users, say students in a university, or members ofa book club. In other words, the condition is that the user is aparticular person or member of a particular group. Rights and conditionscan exist as separate entities or can be combined. As will becomeapparent below, in the preferred embodiment, some conditions must besatisfied in order to render item ticket 42 or otherwise convert itemticket 42 into a form that is redeemable for the item. Other conditionscan be expressed on ticket 42 in redeemable form. Such conditions arereferred to as “post license” conditions below.

State variables track potentially dynamic states conditions. Statevariables are variables having values that represent status of an item,usage rights, license or other dynamic conditions. State variables canbe tracked, by clearinghouse 90 or another device, based onidentification mechanisms in license 52 and ticket 42. Further, thevalue of state variables can be used in a condition. For example, ausage right can be the right to redeem item ticket 42 for specifiedgoods and a condition can be that the usage right can be exercised threetimes. Each time the usage right is exercised, the value of the statevariable is incremented. In this example, when the value of the statevariable is three, the condition is not longer satisfied and ticket 42cannot be redeemed. Another example of a state variable is time. Acondition of license 52 may require that item ticket 42 is redeemedwithin thirty days. A state variable can be used to track the expirationof thirty days. Further, the state of a usage right can be tracked as acollection of state variables. The collection of the change is the stateof a usage right represents the usage history of that right.

Item ticket 42 can be prepared with document preparation application 72installed on computer 70 associated with the distributor of an item, acontent service provider, or any other party. Preparation of item ticket42 consists of specifying the rights and any conditions or statevariables values under which item ticket 42 can be redeemed. Rightslabel 40 is associated with item ticket 42 and item ticket 42 with isprotected with some crypto algorithm or other mechanism for preventingprocessing or rendering of item ticket 42. A rights language such asXrML™ can be used to specify the rights and conditions in and statevariables rights label 40. However, the rights and conditions can bespecified in any manner. Accordingly, the process of specifying rightsrefers to any process for associating rights with a ticket. Rights label40 associated with item ticket 42 and the encryption key used to encryptitem ticket 42 can be transmitted to license server 50.

Item ticket 42, with the security mechanism unlocked, can be a humanreadable or computer readable coupon, a code, a document, or the like.Accordingly, the phrase “item ticket” as used herein, refers to anytangible or intangible indication of an item. Ticket 42 specifies one ormore items and thus usage rights and conditions can be associated withany item including, objects, classes, categories, and services, forwhich use, access, distribution, or execution is to be controlled,restricted, recorded, metered, charged, or monitored in some fashion.Item ticket 42 and license 52 thus define a property right. In thepreferred embodiment, item ticket 42 can be linked to the item throughan item reference. The term “linked” as used herein refers to any typeof association, such as a description, a pointer, or the like. Forexample, the ticket can include a unique code associated with an itemthrough a database record. When the code is presented to a vendor, thedatabase is searched and the corresponding item can be delivered. Itemticket 42 can also include a human readable description of the item andany post license condition not yet satisfied. For example, if acondition in license 52 is that item ticket 42 must be redeemed at acertain location or time, that condition can be parsed and transferredto item ticket 42. As illustrated in FIG. 4, item ticket 42 includesitem reference 42 a to specify the item and post license conditions 42b.

A typical workflow for DRM system 10 is described below. A useroperating within client environment 30 is activated for receiving itemticket 42 by activation server 20. This results in a public-private keypair (and some user/machine specific information) being downloaded toclient environment 30 in the form of client software component 60 in aknown manner. This activation process can be accomplished at any timeprior to the issuing of license 52.

Usage rights, conditions, and state variables of license 52 can bestored together with item ticket 42 or otherwise associated with itemticket 42. For example item ticket 42 can include a reference to usagerights stored elsewhere. When a user wishes to obtain a specificenforceable property right to an item, the user makes a request for itemticket 42 specifying the item through item reference 42 a. For example,a user might browse a Web site running on Web server of vendor 80, usinga browser installed in client environment 30, and request an itemcorresponding to item ticket 42, i.e. an item specified in itemreference 42 a of item ticket 42. The user can examine rights offers 44in rights label 40 associated with item ticket 42 and select the desiredusage rights and conditions. During this process, the user may gothrough a series of steps possibly to satisfy conditions of the usagerights including a fee transaction or other transactions (such ascollection of information). When the appropriate conditions and otherprerequisites, such as the collection of a fee and verification that theuser has been activated, are satisfied, vendor 80 contacts licenseserver 50 through a secure communications channel, such as a channelusing a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). License server 50 then generateslicense 52 for item ticket 42 and Web server 80 downloads both itemticket 42 and the license 52. As noted above, license 52 includes usagerights and conditions selected from rights label 40 of item ticket 42and can be downloaded from computer 70 associated with a vendor,distributor, or other party. Keep in mind that item ticket 42 issecured, through encryption or another security mechanism and can onlybe rendered or otherwise accessed through license 52 which includes amechanism for unlocking ticket 42. Mechanisms for controlling access todocuments are well known.

Client component 60 in client environment 30 will then proceed tointerpret license 52 and allow rendering or other access of item ticket42 based on the rights and conditions specified in license 52. Theinterpretation and enforcement of usage rights and related systems andtechniques are well known. The steps above may take place sequentiallyor approximately simultaneously or in various sequential order. Forexample, if license 52 is for purchase of an item at a price of tendollars within one month of the issue date of item ticket 42, clientcomponent 60 could render item ticket 42 a as a displayable or printablecoupon for such a purchase expiring in one month the price an expirationdata are post license conditions in this example. In other words, suchconditions can be set forth on the rendered, or otherwise unlocked, formof item ticket 42 and can be discerned upon redemption of item ticket42.

System 10 addresses security aspects of tickets 42. In particular,system 10 may authenticate license 52 that has been issued by licenseserver 50. One way to accomplish such authentication is for application60 to determine if license 52 can be trusted. In other words,application 60 has the capability to verify and validate signature 52 c,such as a cryptographic signature, or other identifying characteristicof license 52 in a known manner. Of course, the example above is merelyone way to effect a rights management system. For example, license 52and item ticket 42 can be distributed from different entities.Clearinghouse 90 can be used to process payment transactions and verifypayment prior to issuing a license. Further, various workflows can beused and various parties can be involved. Also, various devices andarchitectures can be used to accomplish the workflows.

As noted above, a distributor or other party associates rights label 40,with item ticket 42. Rights label 40 can be registered withclearinghouse 90 and stored in a repository, such as a memory deviceassociated with clearinghouse 90. Item ticket 42 can be stored in aticket repository, such as a storage device associated with thedistributor. Alternatively, rights label 40 and item ticket 42 can bestored on the same device and can even be in a single common file.

The private key, or other identification information, is issued to theuser upon purchase of license 52. Payment for the item is passed fromthe user to license server 50 or other party by way of clearinghouse 90which collects requests from the user and from other users who wish topurchase a property right in specific items. Clearinghouse 90 can alsocollect payment information, such as debit transactions, credit cardtransactions, or other known electronic payment schemes, and forward thecollected payments as a payment batch to the ultimate provider of theitem. Of course, clearinghouse 90 may retain a share of the payment andthe distributor may retain a portion of the batch payment from andforward a payment to the item provider. Clearinghouse 90, determines thepayment made to parties in the revenue stream of the item. Clearinghouse90 can serve as transaction aggregator which functions to aggregateplural transactions over a period of time, and charge parties in anappropriate manner to reduce the accounting overhead.

For example a user could request item ticket 42 corresponding to adesired item through Web server 80 and provide information, such ascredit card and charge authorization information, personal information,or the like to permit clearinghouse 90 to satisfy conditions specifiedin license 52 associated with item ticket 42. Authorizationidentification, such as a private key, obtained from activation server20 will also be submitted. Significantly license 52 permits item ticket42 to be decrypted, or otherwise allows the security mechanism thereofto be unlocked, and used in accordance with the usage rights in license52.

As noted above item ticket 42 can specify any item and, when combinedwith usage rights selected from rights label 40 and embodied in license52, represents an enforceable property right that can be exercised byredeeming item ticket 42. Redemption of item ticket 42 can includepresenting a rendered coupon or code to a vendor electronically orphysically. However, redemption of item ticket 42 can take various formsand include various processes. Therefore, the term “redeem,” as usedherein, refers to any process or mechanism by which item ticket 42 isconverted to access an item. Several example of enforceable propertyrights are set forth below.

One example relates to a stock (or other market) exchange. For example,the property right can be the right to buy or sell a security in advanceor at a threshold. Item ticket 42 can specify 1000 shares of stock of aspecific company in item reference 42 a. The right to by the stockbetween two thresholds, at a specified future time, or the like can bespecified by usage rights and conditions. Item ticket 42 could alsospecify a margin call, the ability to change the type of stock (common/preferred), or the ability to convert stock options to regular stock.Also, there may be usage rights associated with the stock during thebankruptcy proceedings, as to who can liquidate first and in whatmanner. The condition of “during bankruptcy” and the status of otherparties, such as creditors, can be expressed as state variables.

In an example related to real estate, a property right to real propertycan be expressed as, for example, joint-tenant or tenant-in-common withthe option to convert to other options and with change of the percentageof the ownerships, and designation of the survivorship option. All ofthese ownership rights can be expressed as usage rights and the realproperty can be specified in item reference 42 a of item ticket 42.

Further item reference 42 a of item ticket 42 can specify professionalservices. For example, a user can buy the right to visit a specificdentists' office, or one of plural dentists' office in an association,for a period of 1 year, while paying only a fixed or variable co-paymentfor each visit, up to a maximum amount. Or, item ticket 42 can specify alawyer or an accountant and usage rights and conditions can specify aperiod of time, a fixed number of times, or a specific project or issueto which use of the item is limited. Item reference 42 a can specify theright for services offered by an organization, in advance, including therights associated with the intellectual property, such as patents,copyright, and trademarks. This can apply to software programmers,customer service representative, training services, or other technicalor non-technical services.

A user can obtain a property right and later sell that property right toa third-party, if such transfers are authorized by usage rights oflicense 52 associated with item ticket 42. This impacts mobility andliquidity to different types of assets, making it possible to expand themarket concept to include property rights to any item. Another exampleof property right is where item ticket 42 defines a coupon,gift-certificate, rain-check, exchange certificate, return,authorization or the like, where rights and conditions of license 52 areassociated with the redemption thereof. For example, a coupon can berendered only after the conditions are satisfied. Alternatively, postlicense conditions can be expressed in the rendered coupon.

Another example relates to any type of financial account or transactionsuch as certificates of deposit, checking accounts, wires, e-mails, fundtransfers, currency exchanges, locks on current or future interestrates, points or other fees paid for a loan, bonds, loans, secondaryloans, and stocks (any of which may have one or more attributes such asmaturity dates or deadlines). Item reference 42 a can specify any ofthese items and license 52 can specify rights and conditions associatedwith the access to these item.

Another example includes the right for future tangible or intangiblethings such as books (in printed or electronic form) or music (onphysical media electronic form). The usage rights and conditions oflicense 52 limit the right to during or after a period of time or for apredetermined number of units, such as units of CDs or books.

In another example, the property right includes the rights expressed fora will or a trust for the distribution of property or other assets, orfor the provision of rights, services or benefits for persons, entitiesand other things that are specified by item reference 42 a. Access canbe restricted to certain parties, or in any other way, by usage rightsand conditions.

The property right can include online services. For example, diet andvitamin calculations (customized based on an individual'scharacteristics and data), stock quotations, interest rate and mortgagepayment calculations, credit rating, background checks, loan applicationand approval, on-line banking, investment advice, translation services,graphic design, advertisement services, currency conversion andexchange, and job placement can all be specified by item reference 42 aof item ticket 42. In such a case, item ticket 42 can include an accesscode to the online service or the like that is usable only afterconditions of license 52 have been satisfied.

In the preferred embodiment, a provider of items, or another specifiedparty, specifies the conditions for access to the items. A user wishingto obtain a property right in the item has to satisfy those conditions.This concept works equally well, regardless of the direction or order inwhich information moves. For example, a user can supply conditions tothe supplier in license 52 and the supplier has to satisfy thoseconditions to make a sale. Furthermore, a partial satisfaction ofconditions could result in a property right or other result, which maybe the same or different when compared to full satisfaction of theconditions.

The item can be access to a Web site. As a condition of access to theWeb site, license 52 can include the condition that the user must belocated in a specific geographical area (for example in the UnitedStates). This is useful for localization of the web site, for example,in terms of language translation, customization, or other aspects at theproperty right, including local customs, news, culture, hobbies, localsport news, local news makers, local industry, local merchandise, orlocal advertisements. For example, if the user is located in the UnitedStates, the language will be English and American versions of spellingand dialect will be used. Further advertisements can be based onAmerican taste, season, or political climate at that moment.Localization increases the appeal of the Web site, facilitates provisionof appropriate property rights and generally, improves customersatisfaction and traffic of the web site or volume of sale.

Another benefit is that the property owner may want to release aspecific property right in the United States first, and three monthslater in Europe or another part of the world. This is common in movieindustry, where the different releases in different geographical areasare restricted based on a time schedule designed to give maximum benefitto the owner or other recipient of revenue. The release dates and/ortime tables can all be incorporated into a rights template, so that theassignment or modifications of the time table would be easy for thecontent owner, and keeping track of the various times can be doneautomatically, without further human intervention.

Another example is when a “Web crawler” collects data from a Web site.The Web master or other authority in control of the Web site could, as acondition of access to the Web site, require the crawler to access orrequest the access after midnight when the Web site traffic is at aminimum, and therefore, loads are reduced. Additionally, the web sitecould impose varying conditions on the ability or right of the Webcrawler to access the site, such as by specifying that the access willtime out after a certain period of time, if access is obtained duringpeak hours.

Furthermore, license 52 can specify how to gain access to a propertyright. For example, one can specify how a user may distribute content orother items (for example, by super-distribution). This gives morecontrol to the content owner, as to where and by what method thedistribution is conducted. The geographical location restriction is onecondition. The parameters of super-distribution could also be specifiedby the content owner as conditions, to further limit the method ofdistribution for example of expiration date, the number of copies, andthe people forbidden to get a copy (such as unfriendly customers, orknown hackers) can be specified as conditions.

Or, one user may want to share their personal calendar with others.Access to the calendar can be the item specified in item reference 42 awhich can include an access code. However, as a condition of license 52,the user may require the accessing party to do a specific task. Forexample, a condition may require the user to open one specific file orshare their own calendar. The calendar can be used and edited by allsome of the others, who have the right to input, modify, or edit, asexpressed in usage rights of license 52. Some of the parties may havethe right to view-only, or view-and-input-only, with no modificationrights. The calendar can keep track of conflict of schedules for two ormore people, and automatically notify the conflicting parties or all ofthe parties about the conflict. The calendar can also highlight theunavailable days, when one or more parties are out of town orunavailable for other reasons. The calendar can also suggest some daysor hours that the calendar is relatively empty, or for a specifiedparties, find the common acceptable dates or hours, based on the inputby one or more users.

Another example of a property right that can be controlled is access toa print-shop service, where one can specify some policy to restrict theaccess of users to printing services specified by item ticket 42. Inother words, access to the service is specified in item reference 42 aand restrictions are expressed as usage rights and conditions of license52. For example, the user may send a large file to be printed by theprint shop, for a fee. However, as a way of managing job orders, smallerfiles get printed sooner, i.e., have a higher priority. The size of thefiles within a predetermined time frame can be compared and ordered forprinting purposes. In other words, a condition of license 52 is that nosmaller files are queued for printing. The status of other files quedfor printing can be tracked as a state variable. However, if a job mustbe printed before a deadline, then the length of the printing process isestimated, and the job schedule is modified to make the deadline. Thisout-of-order prioritization can be signified by a flag or a variable (orset of variables/parameters), i.e., which contains the order ofpriority, the information about the deadline, or the like. In the caseof the conflict of the schedules or having not enough time to satisfyall the deadlines, the jobs in a class with a higher priority will behandled before the other jobs. Thus, the size of a file to be printed isimportant only within a specific class of priority.

Further, upon payment of a fee or satisfaction of another condition, aprint job might jump the queue, or color jobs and black and while jobscould be routed to different printers, or the user may specify thepriority he desires based on the fee paid. For assignment of print jobs,priority assignment, class of print jobs, negotiating the prices andfees, and the moving of priorities, one can assign rights to customersand print jobs, and express those rights in license 52.

As a service provider, one can set conditions for quality in rightslable 40. For example, lower quality image can be purchased for a lowerfee or a slower delivery can be granted for a lower fee. For example,the resolution can be corresponded to the price, based on a table, aformula, a function, or values on a curve. This applies to variationsother than quality such as, speed or timing, and the variation could bebased on conditions other than fee paid. Each of these services or itemscan be specified in item reference 42 a.

Another possible property right is the authority to change or set thetime for a computer or other system. In such an example, the conditionis the identification of the person as the system administrator. Thus,the identification can be based on the role of the individual, which canbe established by a smart card, ID, or the like. Such a role-based modelmakes it easier to effect a change in the right assignment or a changein the position of the individuals.

Further applying usage rights to items is very useful for situations inwhich the item provider is not the same as the item seller, such as forair fares and car rentals in which a travel agent or other party oftensells the item. For example, one can buy one or more round-trip ticketsbetween Boston and Chicago from a Web site, such as an auction site, areverse-auction site, airline direct sales, a travel agency, anindividual having the property right to transfer or resell the tickets,a clearinghouse, a reseller, or a distributor. The destination, thelocation, or both could be variables. For example, an item specified initem reference 42 a of item ticket 42 can an airline ticket from Bostonto any city in the Eastern part of the United States, any city within2000 miles of Boston, or to any city in the continental United States.The usage rights of license 52 can include the right to exchange theticket for another ticket within the European continent provided thatcondition, such a payment of a fixed or variable fee is paid. Inaddition, the usage rights can include the right to convert the ticketto cash, points, coupons, or the like, for purchase of merchandise orservices from affiliated retailers. For busy seasons (predetermined timewindows), the conditions may require an extra fee for a given propertyright. The predetermined times can be tracked as state variables.

As another example, item ticket 42 can specify that the user can rent acar for six days in Boston from any one of several car rental companies.The rental companies can have a contract with clearinghouse 90 torecognize item ticket 42 as valid and item reference 42 a can specifythe car rental. Usage rights and conditions can specify mileage limits,drop off locations, car size, car manufacturer, pick-up locations, orvarious equipment in the car as additional features. The item can be arental of a car for six days within the month of August, as an example.The owner may not know exactly when or where they may be exercising theproperty right.

The concept of inventory of extra seats, for example, surplus ticketsfor movie seats, airline seats, or rental cars, in which there is notnecessarily a one-to-one relationship, can also be adapted todistribution as a property right of an item with associated usagerights. For example, one can buy a property right to a movie ticket froma Web site, and exercise the property right by redeeming thecorresponding item ticket 42 at a movie theater which accepts tickets 42and has a relationship with the distributor Web site (similar to therelationship that MasterCard™ Corporation has with various issuingbanks, with respect to customers and card holders, or even similar to amore centralized control, such as the one by American Express™ Cards).Thus, in general, there might be more than one type of distributors ofrights, issuing entities, contract providers, or types of tickets 42,and each may have their own logos, terms, conditions, and associations,with possible reciprocal acceptances across boundaries of associations,for maximizing the acceptance areas and ease of use for customers,similar to ATM cards and banks. After honoring tickets 42, the theaterowner can aggregate tickets 42 each day (for example), and obtainreimbursement.

Further, tickets or seats for events with undetermined dates orspecifications can be expressed as items of property rights. Also, theitem of the property right can be hotel rooms and other reservedcommodities, whereby the reservations, become very liquid andexchangeable by permitting transfer of license 52 through usage rightsor meta-rights.

Returning to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, clearinghouse 90 canhave a contract with three car rental companies as vendors 80, fromwhich a user rents a compact car for 6 days in August, to be used in NewYork City. Item ticket 42 will be redeemable, to thereby exercise theproperty right of the license, from any of the three car rentalcompanies. Usage rights of license 52 associated with item ticket 42 canspecify various aspects of the property right such as; any six days inAugust of the current year in a specific city, the ability to auction orotherwise transfer the property right, the ability to exchange the cityfor a fee, or the ability to use part of the property right to obtaincash.

The flexibility in trading property rights permits various item to beextended into an open market for trading or exchanging property rights(similar to the NASDAQ stock market). In such a market rights becomevery liquid, similar to cash, stocks, bonds, or certified checks.Property rights can be traded as commodities or objects, with certainpredetermined or variable values, at the current moment or in thefuture. Accordingly, associating rights and conditions with items,through the mechanism of license 52 and item ticket 42, provides acompletely new dimension to trading of various goods and services.

Internet and computer networks provide a very fast and convenient wayfor the distribution of property rights to various items. However,distribution of some items may be strictly limited as specified by theitem owner or as desired by the user. One example is a property right toview or use personal or private data. It may be desirable to restrictthe manner of distribution, where it is distributed, who can use it, orwho should not be able to inspect, copy, distribute, or use it. All ofthese restrictions can be specified as conditions and usage rights inlicense 52.

One can treat access to private information as an item, therefore, onecan use rights management solutions to safeguard the private data. Forexample, a user may give their private personal data to a Web site, andthe Web site may sell the data to others only if the user has given sucha property right to the Web site. One parameter of the property right,expressed as a condition, can be the tolerance level of the contentowner, as can be quantified, and be represented by an integer, adescriptive name, or other means. This tolerance value may correspond togeographical distribution limits, a list of authorized users, a list ofunauthorized people (such as known hackers or infamous web sites),pre-defined levels of trust, levels of security for different web sites,pre-defined levels of privacy for different web sites, or otherparameters or conditions. The parameters can be static or dynamicallydetermined and can be tracked as state variables.

Web sites or other distribution sites can be rated by individuals, basedon votes, or can be rated by commercial or non-profit organizationswhich rate the sites based on surprise audits, scheduled audits, andclaims or rules set on the site, compared against the criteria of arating organization. Ratings can be accomplished in any manner. Theratings can be a condition of license 52 to determine if the party canaccess the information. If there is an unwanted leak of the informationto the outside, the liability of the site, in terms of monetarycompensations or otherwise, can be stated as a parameter for thecalculation of the rating of the web site.

A condition can be an indication if the content owner is willing to selltheir own personal data. For example, license 52 granting access to anetwork or other service can have, as a condition, the requirement thatthe user grants permission to sell their personal data. Other conditionscan be the price (or other compensation or conditions) set on thepersonal data. For example, the content owner could get a percentage ora fixed fee (or other benefit such as “airline miles”) for each sale ortransaction, of personal data. An aggregation of these micro-amounts canbe paid at end of each month or other period, based on the usage rightsparameters in the license. This can be done through one clearinghouse ormultiple clearinghouses.

Personal data can be aggregated or averaged for economic, cultural,regional, national, medical or other reasons, in which the individualdata for a specific person is not necessarily individually important. Insuch a case, the identity of individuals typically is not disclosed. Thedata may be used in the aggregate for any number of purposes, forexample for a medical or census purposes by a non-profit or trustedorganization. In these situations, conditions could specify the purposeof the collection of data, and usage rights could specify how this datais being used, such as aggregate or average only for example. Yet,another condition could specify which section or part of the collectionof personal data is permitted to be used for the purpose. Thespecification could be done using a user interface, for example, in atemplate form, with flags specifying each piece of information. Forexample, for a medical study, permission may be granted to access theage, height, and weight of the person, but not the name, income, creditcard number, credit history, or address. For a census or insurancestudy, the information accessible might include street address or zipcodes, along with the number of the accidents in the past six months orthe number of cars owned per household.

The content owner can specify that license 52 allows the data to beexchanged in a clearinghouse with another data collection entity, toaverage, aggregate, or simply sell or exchange the data. The contentowner can verify the identity of the acquirer of the data, and theassociated level of trust in the new owner, as conditions, on a case bycase

Licenses and ticket redemption can be tracked as state variables. As auser, one has to enter personal data only once and then, can maintain orkeep track of the data. The user or other designated party can beinformed of how the data, and which part of the data, is used. The usercan be notified where the data is, by a tracking means such as sendinge-mail messages back to the user. The user can also receive renumerationfrom the sale or use of personal data.

An item consisting of personal information can be divided into differentcomponents, for which different values of privacy condition can beassigned by the owner or another authorized person. Of course, thepersonal information could have just one component. Privacy parameterscan be on any kind of a scale. For example, the typical scale forprivacy parameter can be between 0 and 1. Zero signifies “no privacy”(non-conditional access to all), and one signifies “absolute privacy”(no access under any conditions). A set of rules can define the scalefor the privacy parameter. Different constraints, conditions, fees, andrights can be associated with privacy parameters and each parameter, fora given component of personal information. The owner of content, anindependent trusted organization, or someone else can set a trustratings for different entities or persons, and trust ratings can be usedas conditions of access of that entity or persons to particularinformation associated with a given privacy parameter. Trust ratings canbe based on a scale that is similar to the scale for privacy parameters.For example, persons with the highest possible trust ratings can accessinformation with the highest privacy parameters, and those with thelowest trust ratings could access only “no privacy” information. Middleratings could access corresponding portions of information. Thus,generally, the content has a rating and the viewer or user has a rating,and a condition to access the content is that the two ratings have tocorrespond. The different parts of the content can also have differentratings, for greater flexibility.

Usage rights, rights offers, tickets and licenses described herein canbe expressed by any language, format, tag set, set of rules, grammar, orformulations, such as the XrML™ language. Further, the various aspectsand limitations can be expressed as various combinations of items,principals, and conditions. Consider the following example. A propertyright that specifies that “Person A can transmit a purchase order ofless than X dollars to Company C.” There are many possible ways toexpress the usage rights and conditions of this license to a propertyright. Some examples are set forth below. From these examples, it can beseen that a property right can be expressed in various ways. Forexample, restrictions can be set forth in the usage right, in the item,or as conditions.

EXAMPLE 1

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Item: Company C Purchasing Service    -   Usage Right: Transmit    -   Conditions: type=“Purchase Order”, cost<X

EXAMPLE 2

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Item: Purchase Order    -   Usage Right: Transmit    -   Conditions: recipient=” Company C Purchasing Service”, cost<X

EXAMPLE 3

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Item: Any Goods from Company C    -   Usage Right: Purchase    -   Conditions: cost<X

EXAMPLE 4

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Item: Any    -   Usage Right: Purchase    -   Conditions: recipient=“Company C Purchasing Service”, cost<X

EXAMPLE 5

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Item: Any    -   Usage Right: Spend<$X    -   Conditions: recipient=“Company C Purchasing Service”

EXAMPLE 6

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Item: Purchase Order    -   Usage Right: Transmit to “Company C Purchasing Service”    -   Conditions: cost<X

EXAMPLE 7

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Items: Purchase Order for “Company C Purchasing Service” costing        less than $X total    -   Usage Right: Transmit    -   Conditions: none

EXAMPLE 8

-   -   Principal: Person A    -   Item: Any    -   Usage/Right: Purchase from Company C    -   Conditions: cost<X

In general, one can specify how people use or access goods, services orother items through enforceable property rights. The owner item ordistributor will have more control over the item and the user can havebetter management over what property rights are obtained and at whatcost. The ability to create an enforceable property right in variousitems permits the items to be traded in an open market environment.While such an environment is known for commodities and stocks, itpreviously was not available for other goods and services. The variousrights, conditions, items and other indicators can be expressed in anymanner and can be stored at the same location or in different locations.For example, the ticket can be stored at one location, such as a userdevice, and the license can be stored at another location, such as alicense server of other device. The various aspects of the preferredembodiment have individual utility and can exist separately. Forexample, licenses can exist separately from ticket, and each can existoutside of any specific computer architecture or system.

The system for distributing tickets and creating and enforcing licensescan utilize various devices, such as a personal computers, servers,workstations, PDA's, thin clients and the like. For example, the clientenvironment can be a handheld device such as a mobile phone or a PDA.Various channels for communication can be used. Further, the variousfunctions can be integrated in one device. For example, the licenseserver function can be accomplished by software within the clientenvironment. Further, the function of the license server or othermodules for selecting rights and granting licenses can be accomplishedin the same device as that used to access and redeem item tickets. Thedisclosed functional modules are segregated by function for clarity.However, the various functions can be combined or segregated as hardwareand/or software modules in any manner. The various functions can beuseful separately or in combination.

The various elements and portions thereof can be stored on the samedevice or on different devices. For example, a license can be storedtogether with, or separate from, an item ticket. Further, the variouselements of a license can be stored on separate devices. For example thevalues of state variables can be stored in a state variable repositoryof a system that tracks the current value of state variables. Variouslinks, references, specifications, and the like can be used to associatethe elements.

The invention has been described through a preferred embodiment andexamples. However, various modifications can be made without departingfrom the scope of the invention as define by the appended claims andlegal equivalents.

1. A system for enforcing a property right in an item in accordance withusage rights, said system comprising: a processor; and a memoryoperatively coupled to the processor and containing instructions that,when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out thesteps of: preparing an item ticket specifying said item, said itemticket having a security mechanism incorporated therein, wherein saidsecurity mechanism can be unlocked to allow access to said item; andassociating a license with said item ticket, said license specifying afirst set of usage rights associated with the unlocking of said itemticket and a second set of usage rights associated with the use of saiditem, and including a mechanism for unlocking said security mechanism;wherein said license comprises data that is interpretable by a computingdevice to thereby specify the computing device to unlock said securitymechanism incorporated in said item ticket using said mechanism inaccordance with said first set of usage rights; and wherein said secondset of usage rights includes data that is interpretable by the computingdevice and specifies how the computing device controls use of said item.2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said license furtherincludes conditions that must be satisfied to activate said mechanismfor unlocking.
 3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said itemticket includes a description of the item.
 4. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein said item ticket includes an ID correlated to the item.5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said item ticket includeslimitations specified by said license.
 6. The system as recited in claim5, wherein said limitations are expressed as conditions.
 7. The systemas recited in claim 1, wherein said security mechanism is encryption. 8.The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said item includes goods. 9.The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said item includes services.10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said license includes aspecification of a corresponding item ticket.
 11. The system as recitedin claim 1, wherein said item is information.
 12. The system as recitedin claim 11, wherein said license further comprises usage rightsspecifying access to the information and conditions of the access. 13.The system as recited in claim 12, wherein said conditions include asecurity or trust rating.
 14. The system as recited in claim 1, whereinsaid item is an online service.
 15. The system as recited in claim 14,wherein said license further comprises usage rights specifying access tothe online service and conditions of the access.
 16. The system asrecited in claim 15, wherein said conditions include a security or trustrating.
 17. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein said license alsoincludes post-license conditions that do not need to be satisfied toactivate said security mechanism and wherein a specification of saiditem and said post-license conditions can be rendered by the computingdevice only when the security device is unlocked.
 18. The system asrecited in claim 2, wherein said license includes state variables. 19.The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said unlocking mechanism isoperative to permit the item ticket to be rendered as a human readabledescription.
 20. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein saidunlocking mechanism is operative to permit the item ticket to berendered as a computer readable code.
 21. The system as recited in claim1, wherein said usage rights include meta-rights which permit rights inthe item to be granted to downstream parties.
 22. The system as recitedin claim 1, wherein the item is a financial instrument.
 23. The systemas recited in claim 1, wherein the item is a legal document.
 24. Thesystem as recited in claim 1, wherein the item is real estate.
 25. Thesystem as recited in claim 1, wherein said item ticket further includesa post license condition.
 26. The system as recited in claim 25, whereinsaid post license condition includes data that is interpretable by thecomputing device and specifies how the computing device controls use ofsaid item.